Complaining About Doctors

2011-04-06

Category:General

As a rule, I do not trust medical people. I've known too many of them that weren't worth a damn. Over the years, a few have earned my trust. The neurologist who gets my regular payments for services last year is not on that list.

My cardiologist, who is on the list of exceptional doctors, decided that I needed a sleep study. That's where they wire you up and then watch while you sleep to see how bad you are at it. They found that I average twenty-eight disruptions an hour when I should be getting my best sleep. The solution is a CPAP machine.

The CPAP (Continuous Passive Air Pressure) machine forces air into a mask one wears over the nose when sleeping. It makes breathing more efficient. That way, if you relax to the point that you aren't breathing, or if you have an airway obstruction, you are still getting your lungs filled. The CPAP worked great and I get much better sleep now.

The computers in the sleep study generated a printed listing of the results. This printout also contained the interpretation of the results. When the neurologist explained things to me, he seemed incapable of saying anything that wasn't preprinted on the report. Any question put to him drove him back to the report. He gave me the impression that he was just some guy reading the printout without really knowing what was going on.

I saw the text and graphs on the report. It was very clear and easy to understand. One would wonder if it really required a physician to make sense of it.

True, at one point a team of neurologists, sleep specialists, and compute people got together and created the hardware and software needed for the report. I'm sure they are well worth what they were paid. There is a good chance that the hundred and fifty I pay to the neurologist's office every month (after insurance) is going to pay for that equipment.

Still, when the doctor has to refer back to a simple report to answer a question, one doesn't feel comfortable parting with that much cash. When it is time to be studied again, I may shop around a bit. I recommend that you do the same.